Frederick Albion Ober (1849-1913) was an American naturalist and writer. Ober was born February 13, 1849 in Beverly, Massachusetts. From 1862 to 1866 he had an occupation as shoemaker. Subsequently he attended the Massachusetts Agricultural College but due to the lack of funds he was forced to leave the college after a short time. From 1867 to 1870 he worked as employee in a drugstore and again as shoemaker. From 1876 to 1878 he made ornithological surveys to the Lesser Antilles where he discovered 22 bird taxa new to science. Two of them - the Lesser Antillean Flycatcher and the Montserrat Oriole - were named in his honor by his colleague George Newbold Lawrence. During his writing career which lasted 30 years he wrote more than 40 books mostly travel books but also bird books and biographies about Amerigo Vespucci, Hernán Cortés, and Israel Putnam. He died May 31, 1913 in his home in Hackensack, New Jersey. Frederick A. Ober was among the founders of the Explorers Club in 1904.
User Reviews: